Automobile seat



Jan. 9, w23.

J. H. MCCOLLOUGH. JR.

- AUTOMOBVLE SEAT.

F|LED DEC. 20. 1921.

Patented H923.

.Application filed, December 2t?, lt. serial No. 5553,63?.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that l, JAMES H. McCon- LoUoH, J r., a citizen of the United States, residing at San Jose, in the county of Santa 5 Clara, and State of California, have in-V vented certain new anad useful lmprovements in Automobile Seats, of which the following is a speciication.

My invention relates to automobile-seats lo of a type inwhich the seat-frame is connected with tired support by a hinge or yielding joint, which is controlled by a re* silient member or members, the object being` to eliminate as far as possible' the shocks l5 which reach the occupant through the back of the seat, thereby affording relief from fatigue, especially in the muscles of the shoulders and neck.

As far as l am aware, in seats of this na- 2oture, the practice has been to locate the hinge joint which connects the seat frame with the fixed support, immediately and directly at the forward edge of the bottom portionof the seat frame, or in front thereof, the resilient member controlling said joint being locatedrearwardly of the joint.

l have found that insuch arrangement the normal positipn of the occupant in the seat is lost sight of, as no account is taken of the fact that his weight lies, in muchthe greater part, back of the Jforwardly disposedhinge joint and is borne chiefly 'by the resilient controllingmember. This results in the pressure being imposed almost wholly upon said member, very little being borne by the hinge joint. The resilient member in order to properly serve its purpose in the general combination should not be made too stiii'. But if it be sufficiently sensitive to perform its proper function, it cannot, unassisted, bear the pressure of the occupant as imposed under the conditions of vertical jolting, and, therefore, the seat will strike bottom.

lt is one of the objects of my present improvement to correct this difficulty; and this l attain by so locating the hinge or yielding joint as to make it bear such proportion of the occupants weight, as will prevent the seat striking bottom, and yet allow the resilient member to be properly sensitive, in order to take care of horizontal shocks.

lt is apparent that if the hinge joint be located immediately below they center of weight of the occupant of the seat, the resilient controlling member will not be att iected by vertical. shocks, nor by diderences in weight of diderent occupants. Furthern more, l have found that while the location of the joint, contemplated by my invention is efcient in correcting the main diliiculty outlined, there is presented a minor diiiiculty due to this location, namely the tendency of the forward edgeoi the seat cushion to oscillatel about the joint axis and thereby to give a blow under the knees of the occupant, which, especially to those with short legs, is unpleasant and ultimately fatiguing. lit is, therefore, a further object of my invention to correct this minor diiiiculty, and this l attain by means for establishinggI and main taining a predetermined fixed,maximum distance relation between the upper forward edge of the seat cushion and the fixed support with which the seat is associated.

With these endsin view, my invention consists in the novel automobile seat which ll shall now fully describe by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which- Fig. l isa vertical cross-section of one form of a seat, embodying my improvement.

Fig. Q is a vertical cross-section showing my improvement embodied in another form.

Fig. 8 is a vertical cross-section showing1 still another form.

Referring first to Fig. l, the numeral l indicates part o' the body. of an automobile, 2 its floor andi 3 the steering wheel. 1- is a metal portion of the body which forms the back of the customary seat. The iframe of vmy seat is a rigid, substantially l.shaped lcushion agamst which the occupant leans,

from moving" forward, and results in obviating the tendency to pitch him *forward when jolts. reach him through the back cushion. This is due to the factthat though the seat 'frame is oscillated, the upper edge ci the cushion does not move forward beyond the position it occupies when the seat frame is at rest.

linthis seat as shown in Fig. l, the hinge or yielding connection for the seat frame is,

for the sake of illustration, shown as comprising an upright 10 rising from the fioor 2, and a lug l1 depending from the bottom portion 5 of the seat frame, the two parts being pivotally connected by a horizontal hinge pintle 12. 'The character of this hinge` or yielding joint, for the purposes of my present invention, is immaterial, and it may be varied in structure as desired, as I shall presently show. Its relative position is, however, essential. This position must be back of the forward edge of the bot-tom portion of the seat frame and, in its best disposition, forward of the center of the Width of said bottom portion. In other words, it must be in or nearly in the vertical line of Agreatest weight pressure of the occupant, the lobject being to make it bear said pressure in greater part. Back of the hinge connection and between the seat frame and fioor is the resilient member 13. This may bel of any suitable nature. In lthe form shown in Fig 1, the resilient member is for the sake of illustration shown as a pneumatic tube or air cushion. j

Inv Fig. 2 the formof seat embodying my invention is one in which there is no portion of the body forming the customary seat back, such as. the part `f1 of Fi 1, as there is no necessity for concealing t e back of the seat frame, or taking care of the upholstery, other than to provide a means for preventing la forward movement at itsupper edge, in

order` to secure the advantage referred to herembefore. lThis,for example, is the case with truck-Seats.

In this form, I\have shown the yielding joint connection for the seat-frame, asI being formed of a strip of bendable metal 14, but its essential location in the arrangement is the same asin Fig. 1, that is, between the front edge of the bottom portion of the seat frame and the center line of the width thereonf. In this Figure 2, I have shown the resilient controlling member as a coiled sprmg 15.

In Fig. 3, I have shown the yielding joint as a vertical metallic strap 16, capable of distortion under pressure to yield the required hlnge effect, but the position of this strap is as heretofore described with relation to the hinge connections of the previous figures.

It will now be seen that when an occupant 1s in the seat his weight is borne in greater part by the hinge or yielding' connection, thus permitting the resilient Icontrolling member to be made as sensitive to the long leverage of the back portion of the seat frameA as ma be required without danger of the seat rame hitting bottom. lConsequently, when a shock is received by the oc- 15; but on the other hand, the horizontal component of the shock acting through the back cushion will be greatly lessened in intensity in a horizontal direction and an actual conversion of direction occurs in proportion as the shocks which fiex the horizontal springs of the back cushion now act through these springs and the back 6 of the` seat to flex the resilient controlling member-l or have a tendency so to move, up and down about the hinge axis. This movement results in unpleasant and fatiguing blows under the knees, especially in the case of shortlegged persons. affecting the primary object of the arrangement, I have a flexible strap or tie member 1-7, secured 'at its upper edge to the upper front edge of the cushion 7 of the seat bottom 5, and at its lower edge secured to the fixed member or floor 2. This member 17 may be of any suitable material, and may be a sheet across and covering the front of the'structure orV in the form of one or more straps. Its height is predetermined, t0 establish and maintain the maximum distance relation or upperlimit of oscillation of the 'front edge of the cushion 7 above the fixed floor 2. The cushion, therefore, at its upper front edge can be so tied down that it will not strike under the knees of the occupant, but at the same time it will be seen that this partial directional limitation of the cushion does not in any manner affect the movements of the rigid, L-shaped seat frame required .for attaining the primary object in view,

ing ,the bottom portion .of the seat-frame;

a connection between said seat frame and fixed Support constituting a horizontally disposed yielding joint, said jointc.onnection lying between the fixed support and the bottom portion of the seat-frame ina line back of the forward edge of said bottom portion; means for controlling the movement of the seat frame about said joint connection. and means for keeping the upper edge of the back Cushion, when the seat frame is oscil- To remedy this without sov Mameli gg,

lated, from moving forward beyond the position it occupies when the seat frame is at rest.

2. An automobile seat comprising a rigid [1 -shaped seat-frame having a bottom portion and a back portion; an upholstered cushion fitted to the back portion; a fixed support underlying the bottom portion of the seat-frame; a connection between said seat frame and lixed support constituting a horizontally disposed yielding joint5 said joint connection lying between the fixed support and the bottom portion of the seat frame in a line between the forward edge of said bottom portion and the midway line between the front and rear of said bottom portion; means for controlling the movement of the seat-frame about said joint connection; and a iiexible connection with the upholstery of the back cushion, for preventing the forward movement of the upper edge of said cushion.

3. An automobile seat comprising a rigid L-shaped seat-frame, having a bottom portion and a back portion;v a cushion carried upon the back portion; a cushion carried upon the seat-portion; a fixed support underlying the bottom portion of the seatframe; a connection between said seat frame and fixed support constitutingr a horizontally -disposed yielding joint, said joint-Gounod tion lying between the ixed support and the bottom portion of 'the seat-frame in a line back of the forward edge of said bottom portion; means for controlling the movement of the seat frame about said joint connection; means for preventing the forward movement of the upper edge ot the back cushion; and means for holding the upper front edge of the bottom cushion in a predetermined maximum spaced relation above the fixed support,' independently of and relatively to the movement of the bottom portion of the seat-frame.

In testimony whereof l have signed my name to this specication.

JAMES H. MCCULLOUGH, JR. 

